ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book examines the purposes and conduct of contemporary diplomacy, certain changes that have been particularly striking since 2000, whilst others fit within an evolving model. Diplomacy, in terms of purposes, can be thought of in terms of traditional categories, including representation, information, explanation, negotiation and contributing to what Watson called orderly change, and, order. The report of the chairman of the WTO Rules Negotiating Group drew attention to the limited progress in the group and particularly expressed concern over the quite different concepts of international trade order of members of the group. The demise of the G-8, and replacement, in effect by the G-20, reflects the shift in the contemporary political power, but also underlines the limitations of shared notions about international order. In the diplomacy of paradoxes, contradictions occur in which one norm is cancelled by the supremacy of another.
